Gmail tweak gives nod to folder metaphor

Gmail forsook folders for a more flexible idea, labels, but Google has begun making a change acknowledging that the older interface idea has its place.

The drawback of folders is that you must decide which one is the best location for a message you want to file--"family" or "travel," for example. With labels, you can apply both, and in Gmail, clicking either label will show that particular message.

But Google concluded that folders have one nice feature: when you move a message out of the in-box and into them, the message is filed. With Gmail today, you have to first apply a label, then separately archive it. But with the new feature, "move to," those two steps can be combined into one, according to a blog post by Gmail engineer Emil Eklund.

"It's not always obvious how to use labels, especially for people who are new to Gmail and used to using folders, and it hasn't helped that some common tasks have been more complicated than they should be," Eklund said.

Gmail added new buttons for "Move to" and "Labels."

(Credit: Google)

The Gmail interface is getting two new buttons across the top, starting Tuesday. One will be the "Move to" button, which lets people apply a label and archive the message; the other "Labels" button can be used just to apply one or more labels. If you have keyboard shortcuts enabled, the two buttons' functions are accessed with V and L, respectively.

Updated 12:47 p.m. PST to correct the "Move to" shortcut.

[mattharms]

Redundancy for the sake of redundancy. Gotta love it.

[dwriley]

I do, I do.

[Admodieus]

This should really help make my IMAP client's job easier. Labels in GMail don't play nicely with folders in Outlook, Thunderbird, or Windows Live Mail.

Gmail became bloated

[Chapmaniac]

I actually stopped using Gmail and migrated toward Live.com as my primary due to Gmail's lack of folders. Who wants to see one, huge inbox?

[Shankland]

I certainly don't want to see a huge inbox. Contrary to your experience, though, that's the very reason I prefer Gmail. Its archive, combined with search and labels to access older messages, I find a superior way to pare down my inbox than any interface with a folder metaphor that requires me to manually file each message. The proof in the pudding for me: my Gmail inbox generally has 25-40 messages in it. That's the first time since I started using e-mail that I've been able to keep the inbox from constantly growing.

[Hunnter2k3]

Then you obviously don't know how to use such a simple interface.
This thing is much easier to use than Hotmail ever was.

Labels > Folders, no more "oh what folder should this one go in", now it is just "this is both funny and from a friend!"
Labels save a LOT of time, and i am glad Google used that method instead of folders.

Same goes for folders in general, i hate them, which is why i symlink a lot of my stuff because most of the stuff comes under several categories (such as of sockets and pictures of things with faces on them, very important one there)

[skillingssucks]

Apparently you don't know how to use labels...or filters for that matter. Just set up a filter to automatically label an incoming mail and set it to "skip the inbox". Very simple.

[troglodytia]

I've been wondering for a long time - why doesn't somebody create a way to set keywords for e-mail searching? Make it so we could see a cloud of our keywords, and click on two or three for a search, maybe with a window to additionally specify a time period? I think folders are very limiting, but I have to spend too much thought on where-will-I-be-able-to find-this-later.

[codynews]

One thing I will give props to google for (and I've been moving off google due to their left wing activism) is the great spam filter. I almost never get spam in my inbox and when I check the spam 'folder' there are 1000's of messages, all appear to be actual spam.

The only false positives are when I sign up for something and I know the confirmation e-mail is going to be flagged so I look in there right after I expect it.

[usarioclave1]

Hey gmail label lovers:

there are two folders in gmail already: archive and inbox. So if you move things to archive you're essentially using gmail's somewhat lame folder structure. If you don't move things to archive you have a big inbox.

So there, label-lovers! You're using folders and don't even know it! Behold, the power of folders!

[Hunnter2k3]

They aren't folders, they are just pre-set labels called Inbox and Archive.

[ayoung45]

I agree with Hunnter2k3. Archive and inbox are not technically folders, but are labels, since you are able to view your email in both archive AND inbox. If it was a folder, then it would only be seen in one of the two.

But I gotta give props for Google for the things that they do. I definately am a big fan of Google products, and love the idea of labels over folders.

Keep up the good work Google Team!

[PetrBuben]

if you dont like labels, filters of gmail, it is mainly because you dont understand them. you havent taken time to get to learn them. ......... no need for big inbox.....

even as Gmail is now, just apply label(all with keyboard shortcuts, no mouse necesssary), and then press shortcut to archive that message. itl disappear from inbox. ............... also, do not forget filters. set them up in a way that label gets both applied and simultaneously, message gets moved to archive. ........ ...
what I dont understand is why Google calls Archive "All Mail" . its either one of them ... keep it simple, no? :]

ALSO, for me, the biggest Gmail issue is a nonexistence of a MARK ANSWERED flag ..... why is nobody talking about it? why is nobody demanding it? .. are you all googled up with charm ?? :] ... www.myGoogle.nexo.com .... www.geek.nexo.com

[Stan Scott]

There's another wonderful feature with the new Move To dropdown. Once you click it, you can type the FIRST LETTER of the label you want. Google filters the list for you. You can also type a NEW label, and then add it. This makes things MUCH easier to use.

[usarioclave1]

Hmmm. If they are labels, why aren't they in the label area?

They're folders that act like labels, not labels that act like folders.

[skillingssucks]

No they're not. Everything resides in the "All Mail" folder and everywhere else it's virtualized, meaning it's not really there, it's just represented as being there....and that includes the "label area".

[gitanajava--2008]

Stephen,

Do you know if, as a temporary by-product of the addition of "Move", etc., has Google also altered the Search options at the top of the Gmail page? There have always been two search options, "Search Mail" and "Search Web." As recently as last night, Monday, 2d February, those two options appeared at the top of my Gmail page; this morning when I logged in, only the search box followed by "Search mail" appeared.

It's always been helpful when composing or reading email to have the ability to search the web -- NOT just my mail -- from my Gmail page. I hope this is merely a temporary abberration.

[gitanajava--2008]

Well, to answer my own question, I found the following posts at Gmail Help, and if these early-in-the-day posts are correct, it appears Google may have dumped the "Search Web" option from the top of the Gmail main page in their eagerness to add "Move" and to accomodate those hapless folder addicts.

http://groups.google.com/group/Gmail-Help-Settings-en/t/5d0a9b43c47ff225?hl=en

http://www.google.com/url?url=http://groups.google.com/g/80f7faa1/t/5424b4fa7bfee7e9/d/242a5601aaa3ddf%3Fq%3DGMAIL%2BSEARCH%2BOPTIONS%230242a5601aaa3ddf&ei=pKqJSZiQFYbg-gGL9eSuDA&sa=t&ct=res&cd=5&source=groups&usg=AFQjCNGD9uWVb6z8QAdqLjubUq8jBnkD0A

I find it ironic, frustrating, and even slightly bizarre that Google, the leading search engine, should REMOVE one's ability to search the web quickly and simply from the Gmail page.

[gmhflint]

I agree with your posts: this is annoying and inconvenient. Thanks for the investigatory effort.

[owgriswo]

One thing I don't see in this structure is a way to view all the messages given a certain label (by clicking the label in the left nav), selecting them all, and moving them all out of the Inbox to the Archive. This batch moving seems like an obvious quick fix to reduce Inbox clutter. Currently, when you are viewing all the messages under one label, you can only choose to Move them all to another label!

[gitanajava--2008]

hOSANNA! gLORIA IN eXCELSIS Deo!

God bless the Good Ship Google and all who sail in her -- almost one month to the day since they removed the Search the Web option, they have restored it!

Never let it be said that a respectful, organized, persistent, (mostly) intelligent protest by subscribers won't make a difference.

Thank you, G-folk, for hearing us out and considering our comments. Likewise, thanks to the Gmail subscribers who spoke up, wrote out, and bumped, bumped, bumped ;-)